When spoken together, the names Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, and then Katrina and Rita, undoubtedly have the attention of everyone in Florida.

But while the increased threat of hurricane destruction is omnipresent, it is not the only disaster that can befall a business. Fire, flood or tornadoes could destroy buildings, and road closures, power outages or other problems also could force a business to close.

When a disaster of any type occurs, business owners will face some immediate and tough decisions:

While income is disrupted, how will I continue to pay my ongoing, fixed expenses?

Though some workers may have to be let go, what about paying my key employees, the ones I can't afford to lose?

What about other expenses I may incur, such as setting up shop in another location while repairs are being made?

For peace of mind, many business owners may buy business interruption insurance, also known as business income coverage, and extra expense coverage. Those types of coverage are often sold together with property and liability insurance in a business owner's package. That extra coverage provides a business with claims money to replace lost revenue and pay employees if it is temporarily closed.

Many interruption policies cover loss of revenue for up to 12 months and payroll for up to 60 days. Some policies also provide payments if a business does not suffer damage to its property, but is temporarily closed due to loss of power or damage to roads or other nearby infrastructure.

"We found that with Katrina, the claims that are the largest are the business (interruption) coverage, rather than property claims," says Jeff Grady, president and CEO of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents.

Businesses with this coverage receive payments if they are closed due to a "designated peril" listed on their general policy and business interruption addendum. They can buy interruption coverage for hurricanes, fire, earthquakes and most other natural disasters -- but not for flooding.

Interruption coverage for flood damage is available only through the National Flood Insurance Program, a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The National Flood Insurance Program writes flood policies and is responsible for paying claims. Several insurers sell the standard flood policies and receive fees for collecting payments. Details are on FEMA's Web site (www.fema.gov).

Most insurers that write commercial property policies also sell business interruption coverage.

In hurricane-prone Florida, "not having business interruption protection or understanding how it works is akin to ignoring the warning signs of a fatal heart attack," says Washburn.

Some insurance agents say carrying business interruption coverage is widespread. Mike Ammiano, vice president of the commercial insurance division at Jacksonville-based Harden & Associates, says his firm covers several thousand small businesses in North Florida, and 99 percent of their clients have it.

That's echoed by Denny Doyle, a State Farm Insurance Co. agent, who says that "almost without exception, it is automatically included in most of the policies we sell." Asked about its cost, Doyle says it was very slight: "It can be deleted" from a package, "but you'd be saving pizza money to do it."

The cost of business interruption coverage policies vary based on factors such as quality of a building's structure, steps a business has taken to strengthen windows and parts of the interior, as well as the maximum period it chooses to receive money for lost revenue and payroll, says Washburn.

And it's important to carry the right amount of coverage, says Dave Maki, president of Insurance Office of America in Orlando. "Many businesses thought that they would be back up and running within a month or two of the hurricanes, but due to shortages in materials and labor, it is taking six months to a year to get back to business," he says. "So they are finding that they have not purchased the appropriate amount of insurance to factor in that additional time."

Still, with the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons' destruction so fresh, what has happened to premiums?

"There has been a substantial increase to businesses in the coastal areas, as opposed to inland," says Maki.

But not every business qualifies for a business owner's package that automatically includes business interruption coverage, says Veronica Della Porta, chairwoman of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents.

"In more standard Main Street businesses -- such as professional offices with a lot of clerical staff or smaller, retail shops -- a business owner's package works well," Della Porta says. "If they can fairly easily relocate and get their business back up and running, they would qualify. But if their business requires heavy-duty or specialized equipment that's not easily replaceable, they typically don't get a package with business (interruption) coverage."

And that is when the coverage can get expensive.

For example, "for $200,000 of coverage, with a one-third monthly limitation," meaning you can access up to one-third of that amount per month, "the premium would be $1,700 per year," she says. "The premium varies according to the type of structure," because it is considered property insurance.

A lot of business owners are shocked to find that they don't have this coverage, she says, and most people think the same coverage should be provided for everyone. But the exposure is not the same.

While small businesses are always trying to cut costs, Della Porta says that in evaluating this spending decision, they should ask themselves, "Could I easily go find another space? Am I willing to let all my key employees go?"

"The instant you have the loss, you realize you would've paid the premium in a minute," she says.

Insurance is always a matter of risk tolerance, but contingency planning is a fundamental part of business, says Lisa H. Harrington, vice president of education for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents. "No one ever thinks it will happen to them," Harrington says. "But no matter how much more it costs, it's not as much as it will cost you to rebuild your business."

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